What’s the Right Way to Walk for Good Posture

How to cultivate good walking habits

We never learned to walk, we just did it. It was automatic.

For the vast majority of people, walking is the most natural thing in the world, as a child takes their first steps to the adoring looks of proud parents. But as we grow up, most of us acquire bad walking habits. With no one to tell us otherwise, (there’s no school for walking) these habits remain with us, causing us pain and affecting the way we are perceived. Very few people walk with a perfect gait, and even when we learn to do this, we forget easily and revert to our bad habits.

Take the picture above, which one of these ladies is walking correctly? Do you recognise your gait?

My boobs caused me to hunch over

I picked up my first ‘bad’ walking habit before I was fifteen.

I developed quite quickly as a child, and by the age of 15, I already had big boobs on a relatively small frame. This attracted a lot of unwanted attention. So I hunched my back, brought my shoulders forward, developing a protecting defensive gait. Increased shyness caused me to walk with my eyes to the ground, sinking my chin into my chest. Adding to this, I was shortsighted and hated wearing glasses, so I took each step watching carefully where my foot would land.

Facing the world with ‘put on’ bravado, I let myself go, not caring about my gait. My body swung from side to side as I walked, arms held loosely by my side. It never occurred to me that I could be walking wrong. Walking was simply walking, there was no wrong or right I thought.

Fast forward well into adulthood, I now live with constant shoulder and neck pain. A close unwanted companion for the last ten years. Mainly one-sided, the pain loops round my upper back at the base of my neck, reaching up to the top of my neck, radiating down to the base of my shoulder blades, down my left arm to my fingers. It sometimes numbs my inner elbow with a dull dead ache, but mostly it remains on my neck.

Years of stooping over my computer, looking downwards at the screen compounds the pain. Scrolling on my mobile phone has made it worse for sure, but the real culprit was the one thing I had taken for granted. Walking.

Realising my life long error

I became aware of my poor walking habits last weekend

Last weekend I went walking with a friend, Justine. We visited Sherrardspark Woods in Hertfordshire, far into the English countryside. Justine happened to be a physiotherapist. Two minutes into our walk. She stopped me and said, I have to show you how to walk.’

‘What do you mean, show me how to walk?’ Defensive incredulity shone through my eyes.

‘There are four things I want you to do,’ she answered and demonstrated the four tweaks below.

1. Tighten your Core

Engaging your abdominal muscles doesn’t just improve your posture, you also get a full core workout while you walk.

‘It’s important to stabilise your core as you walk,’ she said, ‘pull your belly button towards your spine, and keep your upper body still, let your legs do all the work.’ I tried it, and immediately, my stability increased. I had ‘twaddling’ walking style, my upper body loping from one side to the other in a slightly swaying motion. I never knew how to correct this, but this simple tweak was a full stop to that life sentence.

Try it:

• pull your belly button towards your spine
• Keep the upper body still as you move
• let your legs do all the work, not your upper body

2. Pull your shoulder back and down

Take note of where your shoulders are. This is the key to an upright posture.

Justine noticed immediately that I was walking with my shoulders pulled forward. As I explained above, this was my adopted gait. It was naturally to me. I had walked like that for years. ‘No, walk chest proud,’ she said, as she gently pushed my shoulders back. I felt straight.

Try it:

• pull your shoulders back and down
• lengthen your spine
• don’t round your back
• chest proud

3. Chin up

Not sure of where your head should be? Imagine your chin as parallel to the ground.

Even though the first two tweaks made such a difference to my posture, there was more to come. Where do I place my head? I knew the head was one of the heaviest parts of the body, and probably one of the culprits for my excruciating shoulder and neck pain. But where exactly is the best position. ‘Forget about your head,’ she said. Focus on your chin and hold it parallel to the ground, look straight ahead at all times. I did that and found myself in the correct position. It was that easy.

Try it:

• lift (or drop) your chin until its parallel to the ground
• relax your head (don’t worry too much about its position)
• eyes ahead (look forward not down)

4. Use your hips

The biggest muscle in your body is found in the hips, why won’t you use it?

Finally, she said, push off with your hips, land on your heels and step off your toes. She made me put a hand on my hips and take a few steps. Feel the movement from your hips. take the step and land on the ground with your heels, toes pointed upwards. Let the force of the movement start from the hips, as you transfer the weight to the front of your foot and step off your toes.

Try it:

• feel your hip pushing forward as you take the next step
• land on your heels, toes upwards
• roll unto the ball of your feet
• push off the ground with your toes

Hurray I am walking, or am I?

It was a lot to take in and it did not feel right.

I felt like a robot. My arms were hardly swinging, I was thinking about about step, concentrating on getting the four tweaks rights. What do I do with my hands, is my head right? Pull in my tummy, eyes ahead. Walking felt mechanical, not natural but Justine was behind me watching every step. Practising in the woods was challenging. It was uphill then downhill, stepping over tree roots and bending to avoid tree branches. But Justine kept an eagle eye on me, encouraging me when I felt like giving up.

A full body workout

An hour of walk properly and I was spent.

I did feel good though. I knew a seismic change had happened in the moment.

‘How did I get it so wrong?’ I turned and asked her. ‘I can’t believe I have been walking wrongly for 50 years’.

It’s never too late to learn, she smiled. I spend my days teaching these tips to people older than you.

‘Really,’ You mean there are lots of people out there walking incorrectly?

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘we start as children walking correctly, but we pick up bad habits as we grow older and we never stop to change these habits.’

We finished our walk, drove back and parted. I decided to write this article.

Postscript:

So I am writing this exactly a week and three days after my walk in the woods with Justine. I have walked everyday since, practising what I learnt. It’s getting better each day, but I am still overthinking each step. I don’t want to forget all the good things I learnt. I guess my walk will become naturally soon. It is said that new habits are formed in 21 days .

Already, my neck feels better. It still hurts, but it’s not worsening. I feel a lot more confident. My posture is much better. I stand straight all the time, chest proud, chin parallel to the ground, shoulders back.

She was right, it’s never too late to learn.

PS: Remember the picture above, the answer… none of the ladies are walking correctly! Did you notice?

Enjoyed this? Here is another story about something I had taken for granted all my life and realised in a moment that I was wrong.